Liubech, Battle of

Liubech, Battle of. A battle between the sons of Volodymyr the Great, Sviatopolk I and Yaroslav the Wise, in 1016 near the town of Liubech. Volodymyr's death in 1015 precipitated a struggle among his sons for the throne of Kyiv. Sviatopolk proclaimed himself grand prince and ordered his half-brothers, Borys and Hlib (see Saints Borys and Hlib), as well as Sviatoslav Volodymyrovych, prince of the Derevlianians, killed. Upon learning of his crime, Yaroslav, prince of Novgorod the Great, gathered an army of 40,000 Novgorodians and 1,000 mercenary Varangians and marched against Sviatopolk. After being defeated at Liubech, Sviatopolk fled to his father-in-law, Bolesław I the Brave, in Poland, and Yaroslav assumed the throne of Kyiv.